Aspiration and Ambition.
(Arabic: جوزيف عساف; born 1944) Joseph Assaf was born in Hardine, Lebanon. He uttered his first words in Arabic and undertook his schooling in French. In 1967, at the age of 22, with no English, no money, and no family, Joseph migrated to Australia - in someone else’s shoes, which later became the title of his memoir.
Career
Upon arrival in Australia, he worked in a factory at night and studied during the day. By 1972, Joseph had completed his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney, majoring in Social Theory. Next, he completed a Diploma in Interpreting and Translating at the University of New South Wales. In 1977, Joseph pioneered multicultural communication through his company Ethnic Communications, the world's first agency to specialize in multicultural marketing. He also founded Multicultural Marketing News, a free specialist magazine. His work spanned the fields of market research, marketing, advertising, and promotion for many State and Federal Government Departments on many diverse issues. He has also acted in the same capacity advising many blue-chip companies in Australia and overseas. Assaf also sat on many boards advising on policy. In 1988, Joseph founded the Ethnic Business Awards, which have continued to celebrate the diversity and multiculturalism of Australia. The awards are specifically for migrant and Indigenous businesses. Today the awards stand as the longest running business awards in Australia. More than 21,000 people have nominated for the Awards, hailing from 102 countries of origin and cover a diversity of industries and services. In June 2013, Prime Minister Gillard announced the appointment of Joseph to the Civil Society 20 group – the C20 – as part of the wider engagement process for the G20 meeting in Australia in 2014.
In 2010, Joseph became a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for his work in the field of multicultural communications. In 2014, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Migration and Settlement Council and in 2018, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to multiculturalism, and to business, as a supporter of community education projects for people from linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to cultural harmony and inclusion. Following this honour and in the same year (2018) the National Archives of Australia produced a story on Joseph’s life (see below). Assaf is also the founder of the Ethnic Business Awards (since 1988) which is now a not-for-profit foundation known as the Ethnic Business Awards Foundation.